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The Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library Library of Performing Arts

NYPL/New York Public Library of Performing Arts-Billy Rose Theatre Division

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/divisions/billy-rose-theatre-division

The New York Public Library’s Billy Rose Theatre Division is one of the world’s largest and most extensive archives of the theatre arts. It is located at The New York Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts (LPA). The division’s special strength is American and European performance in the 19th and 20th centuries including:

Archival collections https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/divisions/billy-rose-theatre-division

Books and Periodicals

Clippings and Reviews

Photographs

Programs

Scrapbooks

Scripts and prompt books

Set, costume, and lighting designs and other production materials

Posters, window cards, and other visual material

Rare books

Theatre on Film and Tape Archives (TOFT)

From producing live theatre recordings to the collecting of personal papers and ephemera, the division boasts more than 10 million items documenting drama, musical theatre, film, television, and radio, from the Renaissance to the present day. Not all items of the division are digitized, but to date 800,000 items are represented online or provided as links with directions to viewing the personal objects. Due to the size and complexity of the NYPL and the wealth of resources it attracts from individuals, it has taken over one-hundred years of archiving and organizing skills to develop, maintain, and digitize the collections to date, and it grows each year with new acquisitions and donations. For a comprehensive list of Theatre Division clippings, photos, programs, reviews, and scrapbooks, you will have to visit LPA’s third floor and search the freestanding card catalogs, but a fair sampling is available online. No thorough research of any subject or topic could be said to be complete with only an online search of the materials there, but as far as standards are concerned, the NYPL is a frontrunner regarding the classification of materials, and many online archives follow their examples and system. Some classifications are Dewey Decimal system ones, and others are their own (writer them down, don’t bother trying to figure them out). Like all libraries, recording all associated and catalog numbers, as well as noting locations, are essential for tracking down any objects.

While online you can see much of what’s available in NYPL’s online Classic Catalog. https://catalog.nypl.org/search/ Here you can do a keyword, author, title, or subject searches. There is an Advanced Search tool on the left-hand side where you can search, multiply or individually, by title, author, subject, etc. With library membership, it is easy to register, search in different ways, and save searches. This is an invaluable aspect for researchers. Also, library assistance is only a call, an email, or a visit away.

In the case of manuscript collections, or among the papers of individual artists, records of theatre companies, producers, and related companies-the Archival Materials search page allows you to do keyword searches within NYPL’s “digitized finding aids,” and bring different results from the regular catalog search. Finding aids provide detailed information on the subject of individual collections, such as biographies, lists of the collection’s contents, and other relevant research information. It is important to remember that the items you are researching are actual items in a box or a folder and usually information, from manual cataloguing is written on the back, or they are tagged. Only an actual visit to see the physical items at the library will produce comprehensive results. http://archives.nypl.org/ Therefore, the Archival Materials search will also link to the catalog record, and the information you will need in order to find out where a box is stored. You will need both the finding aid and the catalog record to accomplish this.

Recently the library launched a website https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/ to access and engage with all of its currently digitized content, both at the NYPL, within its divisions and collections, and as provided by outside partners including Hathitrust, and others, making it easier to find additional material, and the collections themselves. This site is updated everyday and is especially useful for keeping up to date on recently added items. Broadway.com also liaisons with the library concerning theatrical materials and records and posts regular articles by appropriate personnel about new acquisitions, feature artists, and background material. One can sign up for alerts there as well.

If you are looking for a published play-the Billy Rose Theatre Division does not collect published plays, only scripts and promptbooks-check the Drama Desk. Most of the scripts and promptbooks are listed in the card catalog, but older scripts are available on digitized  card catalog records here https://s3.amazonaws.com/cardimages.nypl.org/index.html

If materials are located elsewhere it will be noted in the catalog record under their location, but for specific information or to request offsite LPA materials go here https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials

One example of a collection which has theatre holdings related to LPA, but not stored at LPA is The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. https://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg Physical sites, such as these might have related materials to your research by name, topic, etc.

The NYPL has been collecting theatre materials prior to 1931, when the executors of David Belasco’s estate offered his holdings on condition that a collection be created. Foremerly known as the Theatre Collection (Sept., 1931-), it was renamed the Billy Rose Theatre Division https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/divisions/billy-rose-theatre-division, retaining its location. The Billy Rose Division is now the largest research division at the NYPL.

The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT), which produces video recordings of New York theatre productions, is a groundbreaking enterprise begun in 1969 by Betty Corwin. Due to her energetic research and union agreements, over 7,901 titles have preserved, including interviews, ethnic and minority productions, oral histories, and the work of specific playwright’s. Screenings limited to students and researchers are available. Between 50-60 live recordings are produced each year, covering most important productions. Copying is not permitted. https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/theatre-film-and-tape-archive

To directly access the holdings of The Billy Rose Theatre Division, organized by its collections, visit https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/divisions/billy-rose-theatre-division  or view related collections with icons to direct links here https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa

Browse or click on one of the collections to view holdings.

Doing a filtered search will give various options and the number of individual records is listed beside the heading. It is possible to refine searches and to cross search this way among the different collections. Larger collection containers will appear first and those with fewer items will appear later.

Click on the item for details. You can zoom and print.

Scroll down for more information and to view the hierarchy, container, and sub-collection results, where else to view the photo, etc. Note the photos within that group/collection can be viewed as a book, which is particularly helpful if you do not want to click on every item in the group search results.

Also note some items in the group will sometimes (usually not) be cross-referenced in other Divisions, such as Jerome Robbins Dance Division, if applicable.

Under More Details, Item Data and how to Cite this item are available.

Searching within the collections is much easier than a broader search, but it is easy to assume that more records and items are not available-you have to do a wider search and include more divisions. This is possible using the directions above.

To search within the collection itself, click on the collection icon and all of its holdings will pop up. If this number does not match the folder number, it is because more items from different collections are being included. I haven’t determined exactly why this happens yet, but I think it has to do with the exact folder the item is in and the fact that it is cross-referenced somewhere else. It does not contain all those items in the result here, but viewing the item itself will bring the additional items in that folder up. At least that is one theory.

Search filters and information are on the left-sometimes pertinent biographical information of the collector is available by this method in the About area. In The Billy Rose Theatre Photograph Collection, there are 50,092 items, but by using various filters more, or fewer, items are grouped together.

Contents, as well as additional search filters, are listed on the left. The largest categories are listed as well as 3,300 additional topics. The topics are also listed underneath the photos, so that if you see one that interests you, you can click on it. Other photos in that group will be available at the bottom of the page once you click on it.

Under Filters, additional options are available. I can search through the “Navigation: Productions” photos for pictures of dancers, or I can search in “Filter: dancer” for different results.

Note, also, the different numbers of the results for the containers searched.

I have found the Divisions of the NYPL/LPA very useful for researching performing arts in New York, although there are other very useful resources for my subjects of interest, i.e., dance/ballet. It is one of the easier websites/archives to use, although different and repeated searches are necessary to find items sometimes-this can get confusing due to jumping back and forth. Remember to save your searches, to make records/take screen shots.

There are some glitches with the system I have found, particularly in the failure to cross-reference material, and the lack of information available on some NY-based artists/producers who are underrepresented, or not represented at all here. However, overall, they are accurately archived, and their holdings are just about the largest I have encountered related to theatre arts in the country, with exception of the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress (for some material), and it is easy to use for research.

The advantages of their cross-referencing, and the ability to cross-search across the divisions and collections is superior to any other searchable archive, bar none, although that is not wholly addressed in this review. I have included a great deal of information regarding the structure of the catalog system at NYPL because it is so important to research in the performing arts to be able to search across divisions for possible literary, business, and other categories which the keywords will produce results.

Examples of frustrated searches limited to the Billy Rose Collection include few references of actor/dancers, such as James Cagney, businessman and philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein, and no results for theatrical manager, author, and publisher Elisabeth Marbury or her friend and roommate, Elsie de Wolfe. However, a broader search of the Digital Collections/Digital Gallery produced Lincoln Kirstein (173): https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=lincoln+kirstein

James Cagney (21): https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=james+cagney

Elisabeth Marbury (18): https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=marbury

And Elsie de Wolfe ( 11):

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=Elsie+de+Wolfe

From there, you can expand even further-the broader the search, the more results are going to appear over the whole of the library’s holdings, other divisions, locations, etc., and it is essential to visit the Billy Rose and other Divisions of the LPA personally as the card catalogs are an invaluable resource. It is clear from the number of results, in contrast to the vast record of holdings, that about only 1/10 of the items are digitized to date.

Citations

Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. “Papinta” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1890 – 1909. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/8d7f18e1-dd14-c275-e040-e00a18065814

Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. “Valentina Kozlova (Vera Barnova replacement) and Leonid Kozlov (Konstantine Morrosine replacement) in the 1983-1984 revival of On Your Toes” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1984. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7b7e0625-6b49-5b28-e040-e00a18061238

Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. “Agnes De Mille (director and choreographer) in rehearsal with dancers in Allegro” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1947. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ae01264-7aa8-2cdf-e040-e00a180632a0

Billy Rose Collection, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library

Creator: Billy Rose, 1899-1966

Call Number: 8-MWEZ+n.c. 26.288-26.293

What Kinds of choices might an editor need to make? How might those choices shape future knowledge in a field?

What Kinds of choices might an editor need to make? How might those choices shape future knowledge in a field?

Texts for publishing involve many aspects of critical editing in their preparation. Some of the choices an editor might make are: Which texts are considered authoritative; which texts to include for comparison to create an ideal text, and how to deal with all of them; how many texts should be collated, which kinds of collation to employ-sight or machine, and whether to employ digitized methods or not (the more mechanical collation that is performed the less the editor has contact with the physical objects, transferring text from one computer to another creates more risks for incidental variables to occur, and inputting itself leaves room for human error-these methods are not foolproof yet and there is no substitution for human handling and comparison, despite its tediousness); searching for variants and using critical judgment in a myriad of ways through typesetting and proofing, variants by the proofreader,  and variants created by the author during proofreading or revising and determining of which sort they are (1, 2, or 3) and deciding how to resolve these issues with importance given to textual authority; use of the tools of analytical and historical bibliography in order to guarantee a thorough understanding of the printing process employed with all variants/copies and in regard to future processing, emendation, and publication of a critical edition; the collation of the ideal versions, manuscripts, and corrected proofs, etc. that will be used to create the ideal text; constructing the stemma based on the analysis of the materials compiled or collated; what documents served as the scribe’s copy; determining compositorial practices and setters; investigating the proofreading of the chosen editions and determining chronological order, history, and authority; constructing the critical text. Other considerations concern: the author’s authority with respect to accidentals and substantives, choosing an earlier or later edition, or compiling a practically new one with reference to its authoritativeness no matter how the other editions were produced; emendations of the text, copy, and how the text will appear, as well as its apparatus.

So numerous are the choices and critical judgment decisions involved in this process, it would be too time consuming to treat them all here, but one that particularly concerned me was construction of the critical text and how to choose a copy-text and emending it. The editor needs to decide this in advance of creating the text ideally. What kind of spelling to use, how much to modernize the text’s punctuation, paragraphing, and grammar is something a reader always notices, whether scholarly or not-it can change meaning. As many classical authors have been completely modernized, how this impacts future editions is of great concern, as it has been expressed by critics that so much changing of some classical texts had occurred that their original meaning and intent had been altered. Whether to present old style spelling, grammar, and as faithfully as possible, to regularize the text, meaning make some very critical emendations, or fully modernize a text, completely altering the document of record in scope and meaning, which requires zero to extensively critical emendation and, if so, to what purpose, are all critical questions and decisions, an editor faces. Most individual readers will wade through critical editions which are in the original language, and newer volumes simply do not require that much emendation for understanding. In each altered version less and less of the original, or intended text, remains and this is a primary consideration for future texts.

Citations

Williams, William Proctor, and Craig S. Abbott. An Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies. 4th Ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2009, New York.

How the Form of the Academic Project Impacts the Audience it Serves and Its Meaning

After reading “Beyond the Vale,” a data visualization project-thesis by Marissa Kinsey, I can make a few comments about how form of the academic project impacts the audience it serves and its meaning. Focusing on a rural farming community (Gooding Township) in antebellum North Carolina, it is designed to address basic questions she had about the county’s slavery system and enslaved population. This information will prove helpful in contextualizing historical events, and in her research to study long-term trends. She wants to emphasize that it balances a “otherwise biased narrative.”

While I am certain about her intent, she raises, in many instances, more questions than she is able to answer with the scarcity of detailed information about her subjects, even in her presentation of charts, graphs, and other visuals used to argue her points. It is a work in progress she claims and was not without its mediums’ ease of use (Google Sheets) and also its complexity and difficulty of use (Gephi), which she records as having a very difficult learning curve. As she points out, while the tables are useful for organizing information or comparing very limited data, other visualizations, such as maps, graphs, charts, and webs are designed to examine a few data sets as a whole, but she was not able to obtain the desired results, due to the learning curve of the software, and also due to the very  limited data she was able to locate-and this was time consuming and mostly limited to the 1860 Federal census.

I believe she has to expand her research to include a wider study of the entire population and community history at large, and then pinpoint areas which lend authenticity to her research, and not try to use limited information to support her predetermined foregone conclusion. I think the purpose of research is to inform our decisions, and it does not necessarily support the conclusions we hope for it to-this is one result of research. But, her research, possibly does raise some very interesting questions, but her narrative may have to be adapted to fit the points she has facts for. Perhaps it is a large task for a thesis, also.

The “story” behind the data she presents does not seem entirely supported because her information does not appear to be reliable, although many of the issues and points she raises, as she realizes, lead to more questions, and may point to a needed analysis and improvement of the system so that important historical information may be analyzed with verifiable reliable results-and that is the job of the researcher, instead of filling in the blanks. I do not think her thesis was supported by these visualizations, but rather it caused me to question whether any of it was true. She seeks to make her presentation of information accessible and engaging to the exclusion of material facts, and while her use of visualization tools seems appropriate to the task as support, other documentation and proofs, more background and history, and a wider consideration of the set/subset she considers would be necessary for me to be convinced. If she is going to use this data to make her point, it needs to be more transparent, she needs to research more thoroughly to convince an audience of its veracity and not point to the scarcity of data used or the difficulty of the software required, and then rely on it. If the information isn’t sufficient, scientifically reliable and verifiable, then the claims she makes are not supported and it seems less academic or worthwhile.

Citation

Kinsey, Marissa N., “Beyond the Vale: Visualizing Slavery in Craven County, North Carolina” (2017). CUNY Academic Works. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2102

How the Technologies of Writing Impact My Composition Process

I can sit under a tree and write in a journal about the view, write many of these types of personal reflections by hand, without the aid of a computer, but am likely to see them as journals, notes not to be published, and yet they help me define my own feelings and opinions removed from technology, and to think of new ideas, or to even elaborate on ones which could be considered a waste of time.

Conversely, if I am writing a press release, or a blog entry, it might be fashioned for length, therefore it pays to be precise and economical with words and I find technology very useful for that, as well as for printing it, marketing/mailing it, or posting it-it’s very handy and uses a mixture of ideas, some possible research or date checking, and the Internet, etc.

Whereas, I find using technology for academic writing to be the most helpful, but also the most removed from personal writing. It is not about my feelings and it may not be something I know a lot about. Research is the most useful task a computer can do for me, but I find transferring that information, keeping track of the changes, quotes, and other’s writing very difficult at times. I picked up an old cell phone once and was refreshed to find it just called. I am usually limited to my computer’s base, its home moored to the spot, peripherals, and habits. I find I have to be dedicated to the task at hand-actively engaged for several hours with the project-and I usually am doing research simultaneously, that is, learning as I go.

I see these each as periods of a different kind of thinking. One has to move from writing, to editing, to publishing, and begins each task with a certain mindset, and if that approach is different from the one of writing, or too time consuming, one can get mired in the research, technology, glitches, and the artistic process is just not a part of that, or it is a late, or even forgotten, part of the effort. Revision becomes tiresome and I feel I waste a lot, overwrite, I save everything. It does make possible setting those unique ideas aside quickly, into another file, for instance, but sometimes by the time I am done with a project I do not want to revisit it until much later if ever. Sometimes technology can be the source of new ideas. It is hard to switch back and forth, to write, and to pare down the research one finds on the Internet, in terms of what is truly original or self-reflective.

Learning, assimilation, and reflection take time. You put ideas into the well, but they tend to come out when, and if they are fully digested. Sitting down at a computer, like any other kind of writing does not guarantee good results, or great ones, particularly if they are dependent on technology. One has to keep an open mind, be willing to continue to learn and adapt, and to do the best one can with the given technology. I think the quality of writing, due to the number of choices possible, the focus on different technology, or the process, sometimes hamper the art of writing or thinking itself.

How Does the History of Print Shape the Way We Read Today: How Things Have or Have Not Changed Since the Early Days of Print

Stephen Fry’s BBC documentary, “The Machine That Made Us,”about Johannes Gutenberg, is an homage to the German engineer and printer who designed the Gutenberg Press, (58 minutes)  was a fascinating look at what it is like to make a replica of the hand press and the type. Since there is no actual reference, he has workmen improvise what they believe is similar based on their knowledge of the wine-press [hypothesis]. Gutenberg’s inspiration was the challenge of thinking out solutions to problems he encountered and a saleable, efficient method to produce books uniformly, and he was successful. Books could be used to teach, spreading Christian doctrine and ideas. Like all good artisans he saw the beneficence of the Catholic Church, more printing commissions, as an economic means, though his concern was the hand press and moveable type, or perfection of his work. 2/3 of these followed us into this century: the book and the type, even if the press is obsolete. It seems to me very much like the craft of making bullets, or other cast items. He was dependent on trained dedicated craftsmen. Into this endeavor he pours his knowledge, time, ingenuity, and money; focused on how much the means, he wills the machine into existence, oblivious perhaps as to how popular it was to become, or debt, like many inventors. He doesn’t make any money off it. Like Rembrandt and other idealists, he went bankrupt. Fry takes us through a look at history, which is very insightful and shows us how this was accomplished by action. It is a fascinating look at a time, just before the Renaissance, when the spread of knowledge was dependent on reaching more people with information at once, allowing the exchange of ideas, people to own a copy of a book of ideas, an artwork, or to receive information from different sources, and this caused irretrievably, a move away from the Church, more modern thinking, and the spread of alternative ideas, as well as the dissemination of information to the masses, including missiles, plays, and newspapers as well as books and prints. Continue reading →